The Democratic Party should shun the racist politics of DC crackpot Marion Barry

Former Washington DC Mayor, Marion Barry, is back in the news. He won a Democratic primary to seek re-election as a DC councilman last week and, in the middle of an incoherent victory speech, the 76-year old suddenly went a bit racist. “We've got to do something about these Asians coming in, opening up businesses – those dirty shops," he said. “They ought to go. I'll just say that right now, you know. But we need African-American businesspeople to be able to take their places, too.”

Barry has since apologised for his remarks, but not before confirming a general air of senility and superiority. He told the Washington Examiner that he was “one of the most successful elected officials in America,” and that he was doing “God’s work … I have made public service my ministry. God gave me a great brain, courage, charisma, vision and the kinds of things that make leaders.” Barry’s overlong, reckless career is a testament to the horribly broken state of local politics in DC. The city is a single party state that routinely neglects its constituents.

Born in Mississippi, Barry came to Washington DC as a civil rights activist in 1965. He was elected Mayor in 1978 and ran budget surpluses while also providing summer employment to every school-aged resident. He was re-elected in 1982 and 1986 by huge margins, despite a growing tide of urban decay and government corruption. Rumours were also circulating that Barry was spending a lot of time in downtown nightclubs within sniffing distance of a mountain of cocaine. When questioned about one such excursion, Barry said, “First, it was not a strip bar, it was an erotic club. And second, what can I say? I'm a night owl.”

On January 18 1990, Barry was arrested by the FBI as part of a sting operation. The Mayor had taken a night off from serving the people of Washington and booked himself into a hotel room with a former girlfriend. Unaware that the FBI was recording everything, Barry smoked himself a little crack cocaine. The police broke in and the Mayor put two and two together. “Bitch set me up!” he muttered as he was hauled away.

The disgrace would have been enough to kill any other career. Incredibly, it proved only a temporary blip for Barry. After struggling to get a jury to convict him (five members believed his claim that he was the victim of a racist conspiracy), a court sentenced him to six months in prison. In 1992, he ran to become councilman for Ward 8 on the slogan “He May Not Be Perfect, But He's Perfect for DC.” He beat the incumbent in the Democratic primary with 70 percent of the vote. Barry then ran for the Mayoralty in 1994 and won a fourth and final term. Asked what he would say to people who voted against him, Barry replied “Get over it.” He declined to run again in 1998 and has represented Ward 8 since 2004.

In many regards, Barry’s political image is almost admirable in its sheer cojones. This is the kind of guy who could say, with a straight face, “If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very very low crime rate.” But of course, the tragedy is that his rock star status masks a legacy of corruption and incompetence that still dogs DC today. One reason why he got away with so much is that he's a civil rights hero, and in the minds of many African-American voters any slur against Barry is a slur against the whole movement. They have to believe in him in the same way that conservatives refuse to accept that Ronald Reagan ever slept through a meeting or verbally signed-off on Iran/Contra. He is a part of their personal political identity.

But Barry’s durability also speaks to the problems that arise from the Democratic Party’s stranglehold over Washington DC. Because the party dominates at elections, Barry only ever had to win a primary in order to get elected. And how do the Democrats continue to dominate? Partly through manipulating black suspicions that Republicans are racist but also, it is alleged, through patronage and nepotism. The latter is certainly reflected in the city's employment record, which tends to favour family, friends and friends of friends. A recent study found that 97 percent of the bus and train operators in DC are black, with only six white women out of more than 3,000 drivers. Thanks to the unions, they earn salaries of up to $69,000 a year – more than that earned by 71 percent of the city’s residents. According to the Washington Times, the figures expose “a clubby culture of favoritism in which merit has little to do with promotions, and accountability, such as noting safety violations, is a career death knell. In [a typical example], court and Metro records show, a black man who spent eight years in prison for dealing PCP was promoted to a high-level management position soon after his release.” You might call him a low level Marion Barry.

In short, Barry’s improbable career is symptomatic of the failure of public service at almost every level in DC. It is nothing to do with race – you’ll find tales of similar stuff going on in Chicago, New Orleans or Boston. But it does seem to have a lot to do with the culture of the Democratic Party, which establishes its control over urban areas by handing out goodies to the residents in return for votes. Local ward leaders sit atop this intricate web of graft and backhanders like poisonous spiders.

What will happen to Barry? Logic dictates that Democrats should shun him and the voters reject him. It was right that Republican Trent Lott had to resign after praising segregationists, or that the National Review canned conservative John Derbyshire for warning his kids against talking to black people. But will a similar tide of revulsion greet Marion Barry’s tirade against Asian shopkeepers? Probably not. For history, charisma and monopolistic politics will conspire to re-elect him by a wide margin. And it’s Barry constituents who will suffer.